Posted on 05/06/2006 1:48:16 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Three years after her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue in the early days of the Iraq war made her an instant celebrity, Jessica Lynch yearns for the ordinary.
She's just finished her first year at West Virginia University, where she's become an anonymous college student on a campus of thousands.
"I think people recognize who I am; they just don't make it obvious," Lynch, 23, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
"That's good for me because it gives me the opportunity to blend in and not stick out and really experience the college life just like they are."
Lynch, who joined the Army at 18 to see the world and earn money for college, attends WVU on a state scholarship. She grew up wanting to be a kindergarten teacher, but abandoned that idea after taking one education class.
"I haven't really found my direction of where I'm headed right now with everything I've been through," she said.
She changed her major to journalism because of her experience with the media and spends Wednesdays working at the campus radio station. Still, she's not sure if journalism is in her future.
"I enjoy broadcasting and I know I want to do something with children," she said. "I'd really like to start a kids TV program here in West Virginia. Something for kids who are in the hospital or have cancer."
Lynch's 507th Army Maintenance Company convoy was in Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003, when it took a wrong turn and was attacked. Eleven American soldiers were killed and six were captured, including Lynch.
The former supply clerk suffered extensive injuries when her Humvee crashed during the firefight. Her videotaped rescue from Saddam Hospital by U.S. special forces nine days later transformed the soft-spoken woman into a hero.
She still has no feeling in her left leg and has to wear a brace to support her foot because of nerve damage. And Lynch says she still can't remember the events that filled the two hours after her convoy was hit.
"Right now, I have sort of this image of what could have happened," she said. "If I actually knew and it came back, I probably would have nightmares for the rest of my life."
Though she was once engaged to former Army Sgt. Ruben Contreras, she now has a new boyfriend in Parkersburg. She protects details about her private life, saying only she met him through family.
Lynch spends most of the week on campus, but often leaves town on weekends to visit her boyfriend or her parents.
"I want people to remember me as being a soldier who went over there and did my job fighting for our country, our freedom. Nothing special. ... I'm just a country girl at heart."
"I tell people the best women you'll ever see as a group are in the military, but they don't belong there. (with obvious exceptions of course as was the case 50 years ago, finance, nursing etc.)"
Your point is why the "every man and infantryman" philosophy is being stressed. It is tough to do that with a volunteer army though. We just don't have the demographics. The young men are not joining.
Currently, one thing you are forgetting about is the "I'm in Iraq so I have to fire my weapon" syndrome. Who wants to deploy as an 11B, 13F, etc. and never fire a shot?
"What is more important, the act, or the medal which commerates the act? What is more holy, the Altar, or the Gift on the Altar"
How about we ask the dead who got dead when a bunch of irregular ragheads fired a RPG and so pitifully few of the Americans hunkered down and fought.
This support unit would once have been staffed by people held to a standard dictated by the Army's past combat experiences. Those standards were not only lowered but in many cases utterly discarded in the service of PC.
Two of the females reaction to the RPG was to scream "we're not supposed to be here". Bet that helped.
You'll see dual standards eliminated the day conscription is resumed.
To have a solid grasp on reality is to put the lie to the claim the women are capable of doing the job. How often do you hear mentioned the fact that SGT Hester had to hand her grenade off to a male because she could not throw it far enough.
She may to have met the doctor just because she did not want to relive the trauma. Repeated sodomy, if you believe her account.
I served during conscription, and after it. Dual standards were in place during both.
Conscription means that you have soldiers who don't want to be there. You give them training, automatic weapons, and then attempt to lead them against an enemy.
Conscription had lots of medals for enthusiastic volunteers, who hid in bunkers, while conscripts took wounds, death, and did great things as they fought to protect their buddies, and got nothing. Be wary of panaceas. Conscription is a form of slavery. Before I supported slavery, I would require a LOT of evidence.
Was.
Hackworth, in his later years, was a bitter man who, one suspects, realized that he was from another era and knew that his ideas were archaic. Unfortunately, instead of fading away, he lashed out in books, and articles and interviews. A regular on FOXNEWS, his diatribes forced even his friend Hannity to call on him less and less.
A sad ending.
Ayn Rand speaks. The Israeli and Finnish and Korean armies are conscript and quite professional. Our army that fought in Pusan, Bastonge and Tet were all quite professional. Hadn't heard that all the volunteers hid and the conscripts were shot though. Fussell and Ambrose will need to rewrite their accounts.
Geez... you must be frazzled, you don't get home for another 8 months! Just kidding! You need a well deserved break. Hope your home front is falling back in to place. Things are going very well in my current comfy lifestyle. My biggest heartburn is the MSM lies.. but I can turn that off at any time. Thanks again for doing what you do... it is GREATLY appreciated!
"Hackworth, in his later years, was a bitter man who, one suspects, realized that he was from another era and knew that his ideas were archaic. Unfortunately, instead of fading away, he lashed out in books, and articles and interviews"
The Hackworth question is big, and argued much.
Personally I always felt something was wrong in his brain, I would love to know if he was using pot in Vietnam and when he moved to Australia.
Even books written by officers that served under him make my antennae tingle about their integrity.
"I served during conscription, and after it. Dual standards were in place during both. "
There weren't dual standards of course, but B.G Burkett writes in "Stolen Valor" that in WWII about 33% of the military were volunteers (although we were in the great depression)
During Vietnam about 33% of the military were draftees, many of them of course volunteering for the airborne, Special Forces, or other units likely to get them to Vietnam.
So WWII, draftee war...Vietnam, volunteer war.
I hope that was sarcasm... you asked how I was doing. I tried to re-enter active duty USAF in the summer of 2001, but was told I was 2 months to old.
"How often do you hear mentioned the fact that SGT Hester had to hand her grenade off to a male because she could not throw it far enough."
I knew that women couldn't handle the Hand Grenade, but I didn't know it came up during that engagement.
Still she sounds like a very exciting woman, as a southerner I admire a woman like that.
Point well taken. I consider that specific point an issue of the combat rotations and attribute it to a lack of the proper force mix for the mission.
I still contend that the Active Army needs another 6 to 8 combat brigades, and the Marines need 3 or 4.
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